Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to Mark Meadows when he was White House chief of staff in the Trump administration, retells a story involving President Trump as the House Jan. 6 select committee holds a public hearing on Capitol Hill on June 28, 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
"Reps. Thompson and Cheney promoted Cassidy Hutchinson‘s sensational revised testimony and hid witness testimony from White House and Secret Service employees with firsthand knowledge that directly contradicted Hutchinson‘s version of events. Hutchinson conducted three transcribed interviews with the Select Committee before substantially revising her story in her fourth transcribed interview. Despite knowing how significantly her testimony changed, the Select Committee promoted it as fact," the report detailed, adding that Hutchinson was promoted as a "star witness."
Hutchinson, who worked as an aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, had claimed before the select committee that on Jan. 6, 2021, she was told Trump allegedly became "irate" and attempted to join supporters at the Capitol ahead of them breaching the government building. The incident reportedly unfolded after Trump delivered a speech at the Ellipse, which is a park just south of the White House fence.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk chairs a House subcommittee hearing on July 19, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images )
Loudermilk’s report, however, found that Hutchinson’s testimony was "directly refuted" by Anthony Ornato, who served as White House deputy chief of staff for pperations under Trump after decades in the Secret Service.
"In Ornato’s November 29, 2022, transcribed interview, he directly refuted Hutchinson’s testimony that she allegedly heard the story about what happened in the Beast. Ornato testified that the first time he had ever heard the story Hutchinson claims Ornato told her on January 6, was during Hutchinson’s public testimony," the report details. Hutchinson had told the committee that she heard the anecdote from Ornato.
A Secret Service agent who was driving the SUV also refuted the anecdote, according to the report. The report stated that the driver of the SUV on Jan. 6 testified that Trump "never grabbed the steering wheel."
"The driver testified that he specifically refuted the version of events as recounted by Hutchinson. The driver of the SUV testified that he ‘did not see him reach [redacted]. [President Trump] never grabbed the steering wheel. I didn’t see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all.’"
Loudermilk’s report determined that the Jan. 6 committee "hid the driver’s full testimony and only favorably mentioned his testimony in its Final Report, it did not release the full transcript."
The Jan. 6 committee was founded in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by supporters of Trump ahead of President Biden officially taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House.
The committee concluded its 18-month investigation last year, when Republicans regained control of the House, and sent referrals to the Justice Department recommending Trump be criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the lead-up to supporters breaching the Capitol.
Liz Cheney speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Capitol Hill, Dec. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
"If your response to Trump’s assault on our democracy is to lie & cover up what he did, attack the brave men & women who came forward with the truth, and defend the criminals who violently assaulted the Capitol, you need to rethink whose side you’re on. Hint: It’s not America’s," Cheney tweeted Tuesday.
Hutchinson's attorney, William H. Jordan, wrote a letter to Loudermilk earlier this year defending Hutchinson as an honest witness who "courageously stepped forward" to speak with the committee.
"Let me be clear: since Ms. Hutchinson changed counsel, she has and will continue to tell the truth. While other individuals – often men who occupied more senior roles – would not speak with the Select Committee, Ms. Hutchinson and many other witnesses courageously stepped forward. Yet she now finds herself being questioned by you and your Subcommittee regarding her testimony and on matters that may also be the subject of ongoing criminal proceedings against Mr. Trump," the letter reads.
LIZ CHENEY ADDRESSES CRITICISM OF HER CRITIQUES OF TRUMP AND BIDEN
"Ms. Hutchinson will not succumb to a pressure campaign from those who seek to silence her and influence her testimony, even when done in the name of ‘oversight.’"
Trump supporters occupy the West Front of the Capitol and the inauguration stands on Jan. 6, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
A 2022 letter, sent by Cheney and Thompson to the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, detailed that it adhered to rules surrounding sensitive testimony from Secret Service agents, and preserved such testimony in archives that were then placed into the control of the National Archives.
TRUMP SAYS FILES DELETED BY JAN 6 COMMITTEE ‘EXONERATED ME COMPLETELY’
Loudermilk said the report’s release Monday is "just the beginning" as his committee works "to uncover the facts about January 6."
"The American people deserve the entire truth about what caused the violent breach at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. It is unfortunate the Select Committee succumbed to their political inclinations and chased false narratives instead of providing the important work of a genuine investigation. In my committee’s investigation, it is my objective to uncover the facts about January 6, without political bias or spin. My report today is just the beginning," Loudermilk said in a statement Monday.
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